Inside Small Business | Small Business & Home Business Marketing

Using channels

I recently had an opportunity to talk to one of the software vendors that I was using on one of my projects. The account manager indicated that they had too much business in their installation backlog, and couldn’t meet all their demand.

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Customer Service

Something that I am discovering is that great customer service can go a long way in building a small business. In truth, it is probably the one edge we have over “the big guys.” It also seems to be the area that gets neglected the most in all businesses. The majority of the work that I do is referral based and therefore it is essential that my existing clients think well of me. The only way that I will get a referral from one of them, is if they had a great experience with me. For that reason, I constantly want to get better at taking care of my customers. One of the ways that I try to do this is by beating my own deadlines. So if I tell a customer that they will have their order within two weeks, I try and deliver it within one to one and half weeks so that they are pleasantly surprised. The worst, is when I say two weeks and it takes me three to deliver the product! When that happens I am unconsciously telling them that they are not that important, or that I am inefficient, or worse yet, I’m a liar!!!

I also try to go beyond what they are expecting so that, again, they are presently surprised…to the point that they would tell someone about it. I always include a little something extra. Something that may not cost me too much overhead, but that they would love to have. Better yet, giving them a product that is cool that they may not know about, and then in turn, tell someone else how cool that product is. This recently happened when I personally delivered some product to a client who’s business is near my office. Not only was she surprised that I would hand deliver something, but then the product she got (something called “Stand Out Photomounts”) was so cool and different that she was telling and showing everyone in the office how awesome it was. I was getting great referral business right there because the client was already telling people about it!

This is one of those areas that could be such an easy way for us to boost our business. There are some many little and inexpensive things to do for our clients that make a difference. Sending a note, remembering a birthday, or anything that is beyond what you might normally expect. I’ve noticed over the last few years that good customer service is really hard to come by. My website fiasco that I blogged about last week is a great example of that to me. So many businesses just care about money more than people these days. To care about people and serve them well I think will go a long way in making our small businesses very successful. I think when you genuinely care about people, the money will follow.

Jason

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Business ESP

You can’t communicate with employees through ESP no matter how hard you try. And I’m not kidding. Sometimes we act like everyone should just be able to figure out what we’re thinking, and it happens all the time. If Ideas and requests aren’t properly communicated they’re not going to be understood.

I had an employee who was rolling into work late, sometimes an hour late or more. I would stew about it. It would frustrate me and I just didn’t know why it was happening. Turns out, after I decided to lay down the law about it, that he actually didn’t know when work formally started because no one had ever told him. Thinking back on it, I know I didn’t say anything about a specific clock-in time and no one else had mentioned it either. Wow. I made a big mistake by thinking that an employee could somehow get inside my brain and know what I was thinking. And this doesn’t just happen with employees. It happens with business partners, suppliers, customers, and just about everyone else I encounter during a business day.

Of course communication is the missing piece here. Things have to be spelled out. It’s not because people are dumb or inept or anything like that. It’s because everybody is different and they all have different perspectives and ideas. It’s immensely helpful to sit down with someone, no matter who they are, and simply communicate. Maybe you’re better about this than I am, but I find that there is a constant need for more complete and basically better communication.

This goes the other way too. Sometimes people aren’t communicating their ideas to me. Maybe they don’t want to say something critical to their boss or maybe I’m simply not listening as I should be. It’s vital as a business owner, I think, to ask people what they’re thinking. I mean really ask, and be specific. Bad communication is a big roadblock to successful business and it takes constant attention to always maintain proper communication.

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Logo Agony

I’m a designer’s worst nightmare. With a background in graphic design, marketing, and corporate communications, I had particular and robust ideas about what I wanted. Okay, I’ll admit to being a recovering perfectionist as well, and doubtless that contributed to the lengthiness of the process. The actual passage of time was perhaps not unusual, but the many fits and starts and the angst surrounding them are unforgettable.

Entrepreneurs setting out to start a new company, in my opinion, would be wise to set aside a hefty budget for graphic identity. I did not. I wanted world-class design, however, and that is where Logoworks came in. Headquartered in Utah, Logoworks caters to small businesses. It designs logos, business cards, and websites inexpensively by using top-notch designers who never have to actually speak with clients. Instead, all communication takes place via formatted e-mail and account coordinators who do have to speak with clients.

What gave me pause was the distance (Cape Cod is more than a walk to the beach from Utah) and, more important, the consequent lack of day-to-day rubbing of elbows. In the end, I came away thinking the Logoworks formula is actually superior to working with one local designer, who would have had competing priorities. At each step of the way, it is spelled out how the process will work and how long turnaround times will be for each revision round.

The package I purchased from Logoworks included unlimited revision rounds for logo design. And it’s a good thing. Because when it came to satisfaction with the early concepts, I was less than enamored. Granted, my list of “theme” words was far-reaching: sophisticated, no-nonsense, innovative, light-hearted, new, fresh, natural, beautiful, intelligent. I also specified that the logo must not even hint of anything related to women’s cosmetics – no lipstick cases, no brushes, no frills. A tall task, indeed.

At the end of an arduous process, with many visions and revisions, I loved my logo and I love it still. It worked with business cards and packaging and printed materials and website and more. But, please, you be the judge. Does it do what I wanted?

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